Archie Comics Fan Forum

(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Farchiecomics.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2FArchie25Mok-666x1024.jpg&hash=a6a2dd949877a7b0f9a41ded2f3f9cf0) (http://archiecomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Archie25Mok.jpg)(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Farchiecomics.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2FArchie25Albuqvar-666x1024.jpg&hash=058fe58c5af930c6b0972dba3b5720f0) (http://archiecomics.com/november2017solicitations/archie25albuqvar/)(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Farchiecomics.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2FArchie25Bartelvar-666x1024.jpg&hash=36c61d6576c488c61bfb514fe27f1dd7) (http://archiecomics.com/november2017solicitations/archie25bartelvar/)Archie #25HEART OF RIVERDALE, Part 3! Reggie Mantle has nowhere to turn now that the whole town holds him responsible for Betty’s fate. Meanwhile, Betty learns just how true and noble one of her friends is!

(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Farchiecomics.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2FTheArchies2-666x1024.jpg&hash=23b7b3c2c09f669fc2919ff2aac617d2) (http://archiecomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/TheArchies2.jpg)The Archies #2NEW ONGOING SERIES! The Archies hit the road—but tour isn’t all it’s cracked up to be! Can they still make some great music? Or will they go broke and make a U-turn for home?

(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Farchiecomics.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2FJugheadtheHunger2_Gorham-666x1024.jpg&hash=1399d2cb038d1049469d486d55063942) (http://archiecomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/JugheadtheHunger2_Gorham.jpg)(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Farchiecomics.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2FJugheadtheHunger2-666x1024.jpg&hash=2bde7688a676b8542bd21c1037c38284) (http://archiecomics.com/november2017solicitations/jugheadthehunger2/)Jughead: The Hunger #2NEW ONGOING SERIES! As Jughead’s life as a fugitive grows deadlier, Betty and Archie close in—and they’re not alone. Betty’s werewolf hunter relatives’ ruthlessness may spell the end for good ol’ Jug!

(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Farchiecomics.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2FRiverdale8-666x1024.jpg&hash=5a57307664566a2f4c44678629a7b152) (http://archiecomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Riverdale8.jpg)(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Farchiecomics.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2FRiverdale8var-666x1024.jpg&hash=ae649255749392b41bb8d41e43701501) (http://archiecomics.com/november2017solicitations/riverdale8var/)Riverdale #8Small town kids get a taste of big city life when the "core four" go to NYC for the weekend. Archie tries to keep up with Veronica's high society pals, Betty and Jughead worry that their relationship may not survive outside the bubble of their hometown, and Kevin and Cheryl don’t intend to miss out on a day of mischief in the Big Apple…

(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Farchiecomics.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2FRiverdaleDigest4-761x1024.jpg&hash=fa99dbddb8dd3842010cba2f1c7ad22f) (http://archiecomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/RiverdaleDigest4.jpg)Riverdale Digest #4See how everything led to the CW’s Riverdale TV show with this digest-sized collection featuring stories from our relaunched titles as well as classic Archie stories!

(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Farchiecomics.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2FTHE_SHIELD_COV1-664x1024.jpg&hash=7e7b532fd494c4013d5f18d8bd4fece0) (http://archiecomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/THE_SHIELD_COV1.jpg)The Shield: Daughter Of The Revolution Vol. 1Over the centuries, THE SHIELD has battled enemies of the United States—but what happens when she’s not sure who the enemy is? This graphic novel collects THE SHIELD issues 1-4.

(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Farchiecomics.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2FARCHIEComDig284-761x1024.jpg&hash=42d0a90eda99768330f164774e0e9aeb) (http://archiecomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ARCHIEComDig284.jpg)Archie Comics Double Digest #284NEW CHRISTMAS LEAD STORY! In "One Person’s Trash…" Archie and Jughead notice some high-quality trash in the Lodge's neighborhood, so they scout the area for items they can recycle as Christmas gifts! However, their thrifty idea doesn’t win everybody over…

(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Farchiecomics.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2FArchieandMeDigest2-761x1024.jpg&hash=6c9b3338f98a5adc53d117e5299cf745) (http://archiecomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ArchieandMeDigest2.jpg)Archie and Me Digest #2In the BRAND NEW holiday story "Jingles Jangle," Jingles the elf loses his holiday powers due to a spell cast by Sugarplum—so his only choice is to take up residence with Archie!

(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Farchiecomics.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2FTheBestOfAmericana-GoldenAge-717x1024.jpg&hash=d71348b51d90d8c7af1d59dec14df784) (http://archiecomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/TheBestOfAmericana-GoldenAge.jpg)The Best of Archie Americana: Golden Age (TPR)Since 1941, Archie and his perennial teenage friends have entertained the masses. In this sister volume to our best-selling BEST OF ARCHIE series, you'll journey the 1940s and 1950s and unearth the roots of an American institution.

(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Farchiecomics.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2FBVDDigest258-761x1024.jpg&hash=c0d2364a9f1773afbc7905040be0463d) (http://archiecomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/BVDDigest258.jpg)Betty and Veronica Halloween Annual #258In the BRAND NEW Christmas story "The LAST Noelle," Santa's daughter Noelle wants to experience normal high school life—but if Betty & Veronica interfere, will Santa put them on his naughty list?

(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Farchiecomics.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2FWOArchieComAnn73-761x1024.jpg&hash=aa299d00a11cf56df72f3ab4dd25605d) (http://archiecomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/WOArchieComAnn73.jpg)World of Archie Christmas Annual #73In the festive BRAND NEW story "All Aboard," Archie wants to get his parents a model train for their holiday village display—unless his plans get derailed!

Excited for a new sugar plum story and I love the Christmas digests. Boo on the Americana. We want the 60s reprinted! Why is ACP ignoring this??

Because they're idiots? Or maybe like Gollum hoarding his "precious".

Yeah. I already bought them when they were trade paperbacks (well, the three volumes I could find out of four), and then again when IDW reprinted them as combined hardcovers.

I don't buy the Dark Horse Archie Archives, but I'm pretty sure they reprinted all the 1940s Archie stories from PEP, LAUGH, and JACKPOT, as well as from ARCHIE, too. I only bought the Jughead Archives from DH. Give it a rest with the 1940s and early 1950s already. At this rate it will be the 2030s by the time they get around to reprinting the 1960s!

But the reality is the stories are reprints of reprints of reprints of reprints (of public domain stories).

Excited for a new sugar plum story and I love the Christmas digests. Boo on the Americana. We want the 60s reprinted! Why is ACP ignoring this??

Because they're idiots? Or maybe like Gollum hoarding his "precious".

Yeah. I already bought them when they were trade paperbacks (well, the three volumes I could find out of four), and then again when IDW reprinted them as combined hardcovers.

I don't buy the Dark Horse Archie Archives, but I'm pretty sure they reprinted all the 1940s Archie stories from PEP, LAUGH, and JACKPOT, as well as from ARCHIE, too. I only bought the Jughead Archives from DH. Give it a rest with the 1940s and early 1950s already. At this rate it will be the 2030s by the time they get around to reprinting the 1960s!

But the reality is the stories are reprints of reprints of reprints of reprints (of public domain stories).

Copyrights on the 1940s MLJ comics were not renewed at the appropriate times, because when the renewals were due, nobody at the time imagined that there would be any future use for those stories. This is true of a lot of the Golden Age comics. Some characters which are still owned by DC Comics, like the characters formerly published by Fawcett Comics and Quality Comics in the 1940s. Comics published in the 1940s by Fawcett, Quality, and MLJ can be found on public domain comics websites. While the copyrights to those original stories expired when they were not renewed, trademark law is different. Some of the public domain comics have been removed from those sites by request of the respective trademark holders, because lawyers will always find something to contest, and even if some of the people hosting these sites are technically well within their legal rights, they don't want or need (and can't afford) to contend with some legal harassment.

Copyrights on the 1940s MLJ comics were not renewed at the appropriate times, because when the renewals were due, nobody at the time imagined that there would be any future use for those stories. This is true of a lot of the Golden Age comics. Some characters which are still owned by DC Comics, like the characters formerly published by Fawcett Comics and Quality Comics in the 1940s. Comics published in the 1940s by Fawcett, Quality, and MLJ can be found on public domain comics websites. While the copyrights to those original stories expired when they were not renewed, trademark law is different. Some of the public domain comics have been removed from those sites by request of the respective trademark holders, because lawyers will always find something to contest, and even if some of the people hosting these sites are technically well within their legal rights, they don't want or need (and can't afford) to contend with some legal harassment.

When will the 1950s and 60s stories be in public domain? Then ACP can start publishing them cheaply.

When will the 1950s and 60s stories be in public domain? Then ACP can start publishing them cheaply.

It will be a long, long, time -- for intellectual properties created under the auspices of publishers and other media companies that still remain in business today, or whose intellectual properties have changed legal ownership by being bought or transferred to other companies. That's because copyright laws allow for more than one renewal, and the extension period covered by renewals has been lengthened in recent decades to cover a longer period of years -- thanks to the unceasing efforts of an army of legal footsoldiers working in the trenches of massive corporations like Disney Co, who stand to lose millions of dollars when their intellectual property rights are no longer exclusive, and they would then need to compete with others, to use a hypothetical example, to see which company could produce stories and/or merchandise based on the character Mickey Mouse that were more commercially successful with the consumer public. Disney Co has actively worked to change existing copyright laws so that they can hold on to their exclusive rights longer.

Or to put it more simply, it's the same realization that a collector has about comic books, as opposed to someone who merely reads them but considers them ephemeral and disposable. Yes, at one time, comic books were cheap enough entertainment that they were conveniently disposed of in the wastebin, or simply given away to anyone willing to take them. Likewise, the publishers of those ephemeral comic books never imagined that the characters and stories they were creating would be remembered or valued in any way, but would be forgotten when kids moved on to other interests. The same was true of radio dramas and early television shows. As a result many of the companies who created those copyrighted stories either weren't conspicuously aware, or just couldn't be bothered, to renew those copyrights, if they couldn't see any profit in it for them. "One man's trash is another man's treasure"... And never more so than when that treasure is realized to represent a potential source of continuing income -- and you're not talking about one individual's nostalgia, but a corporation's lifeblood.

But I'll admit to puzzlement over your comment about public domain status somehow resulting in ACP being able to publish cheaply. "Public domain" simply means that ownership of those PD comic book stories belongs to -- the public, not any one individual or corporation. Public domain status doesn't make it cheaper for ACP to publish anything. It means, theoretically, that anyone can publish those stories, as long as they can manage to avoid legal trademark entanglements. DC or Marvel could do reprints of those 1940s MLJ comics -- if they thought they could make money doing so. But then of course, ACP would take them to court on some trademark defense ploy, if merely to occupy them with bother and legal expenses, and deter DC or Marvel from making a profit off those reprints. Warners lawyers would easily crush any legal representation ACP tried to mount, but the point is they'd try to make it annoying and costly enough that it wasn't worth DC Comics' efforts to publish the reprints. And in fact, DC's lawyers have used exactly that same tactic against small publishers (**cough, cough, AC Comics**) to "dissuade" them from using public domain characters created for Quality Comics in the 1940s (in copyrighted stories not renewed) like Phantom Lady, over which DC Comics merely claims the right of eminent domain. They SAY the character belongs to them (regardless of the truth of expired copyrights), and as such, they intend to use their legal clout to badger anyone who can't afford to stand up to their lawyers, into not creating new stories based on that character. They can't stop AC Comics from publishing Phantom Lady reprints though (or the recent hardcover archival reprints from PS Artbooks).

It baffles me why you think public domain would somehow make it "cheaper" for ACP to reprint those stories. They are getting them out there before someone else tries to do it and steal their thunder (and whatever potential customers there are). In fact, I don't exactly know the deal behind those Dark Horse Archie Archives, but Dark Horse could easily have said "Hey look, we're going to do this whether you want us to or not -- it's in the public domain, so why not just let us pay you a stipend to use the Archie trademark?" I don't know that to be a fact, but legally speaking they could have. And when they reach whatever date in the 1950s that the copyrights were renewed properly by ACP and are still protected, then Dark Horse would have to pay whatever fee ACP deems reasonable to continue reprinting Archie Archives. In fact they may already have reached that point.